So Young
by dreamofshadows
Summary: Story Two in the Sheila Bridger series. Chapter Five up.
1. Daily Grind

Chapter One: Daily Grind

Disclaimer: seaQuest is not mine. Sadly.

AN: Story 2 about Lucas and Sheila. Much fun and madness ensues.

AN 2: This is the edited Chapter One. 'Cause after reading dolphinology's review, I re-read this and realized that yes, that was a very correct observation. (Thank you!) I think I wrote it too fast. And I was distracted and in very high spirits. But I spent all afternoon re-doing it and I think it's better now. Also, I think that my creative juices are working against me as I write Chapter Two and this might not be all the fun and madness the above AN promised.

_'Cause we are so young now, we are so young, so young now. And when tomorrow comes, we can do it all again.  
_-The Corrs – So Young-

* * *

"Lucas, stop it." Another M&M bounced off Sheila's head. "Lucas! I need to study." Two M&Ms landed on her keyboard. She picked them up and popped them in her mouth. "Lucas, I'm serious. We're not all naturally brilliant like you. And Dad will seriously kill me if I don't get an A in biology."

"But I'm bored. You've been staring at that screen for forever." Lucas flopped backwards onto Sheila's bunk, knocking over his bowl of M&Ms onto the floor. The brightly colored candies spilled all over the floor.

"Ooops," Lucas said sheepishly, hopping off her bed to clean up the mess. Sheila watched him clean up for a moment.

She had only been on seaQuest for a few weeks, but she and Lucas had already become practically inseparable. It could be because they were the youngest people aboard and were therefore naturally drawn to each other. It could be because she found Lucas to be so gosh darn cute. It could be because her father was starting to act like he was Lucas' father and in return Lucas was starting to act like a son around him. Whatever the reason, the two had become fast friends, and their days were almost always spent with each other. Sometimes they'd play with Darwin. Sometimes they'd play computer games. Sometimes Sheila would study and Lucas would work on whatever computer program he was fixing or inventing at the moment. Sometimes Sheila would study and Lucas would throw M&MS at her. Sometimes they'd wander around the seaQuest aimlessly, bothering their favorite people, which meant mainly Krieg and Westphalen.

"I thought you were studying," Lucas said, breaking Sheila's train of thought.

"I was," Sheila said. "Then you started target practice with those M&Ms and I got bored with studying.

Lucas laughed. "You are so easy to distract."

"Yeah, I know," Sheila sighed. "It's one of my best features. So what do you want to do?"

Lucas shrugged. "I dunno."

"Are you kidding me? I figured you had something planned, 'cause you were so impatient for me to be done." Sheila sighed. Just like Lucas to annoy her for no reason in particular.

"No. I was impatient for you to stop studying and figure out something to do."

Sheila rolled her eyes. "It's time for lunch. Let's go eat."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I'm starved."

Sheila stood up and stretched the cramps out of her shoulders and neck. "Then why didn't you suggest lunch?"

Lucas shrugged again.

"You make absolutely no sense, you know that, right?"

"Well, you only remind me of that fact about ten times a day," Lucas said as they walked out the door.

* * *

Sheila practically flew over to where Krieg, O'Neil, and Ortiz were sitting. She dropped her tray on the table with a bang and threw herself into a chair. "Someone please shoot him and put him out of my misery," she implored dramatically.

The three men watched her in amusement. They had observed Lucas teasing her all through the line.

"There's still a piece of lettuce in your hair," O'Neil commented.

Sheila gritted her teeth and ran her hands through her hair, finding the offending piece of lettuce and flicking it at Krieg, who was struggling not to laugh.

"Oh, you crazy kids," Krieg said, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"You know," Ortiz said thoughtfully. "This could be like one of those kindergarten things, where the boys tease the girls they like. Sometimes the older boys do the same thing."

Sheila snorted. "Right. He's just bored and thinks that I was put on this ship to entertain him."

"Boat," Krieg, Ortiz, and O'Neil said at the same time.

"Boat, ship, it's all the same to me," Sheila declared.

Lucas joined them at that point and the five friends continued their meal and conversation. They kept Sheila in fits of laughter as they related stories from before she had been on seaQuest. After they had all finished eating, they gathered up their trays and left.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ford and Hitchcock were about to enter the mess hall when they noticed Sheila sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, counting.

"...eighty-eight, eighty-nine..."

"Sheila?" Hitchcock questioned.

Sheila held up one finger. "...ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!" She opened her eyes and hopped to her feet. "Hide-and-go-seek," she offered in response to Ford and Hitchcock's confused looks.

Ford started to protest, but Hitchcock, recognizing the look on his face, interceded. "No hiding in restricted areas. No running. No bothering anyone on duty."

"Yeah, sure. No problem," Sheila said as she started down the hall. "Hey, you didn't happen to see Lucas, did you?"

"Isn't it considered cheating if we help you?" Ford asked.

"Well, technically, but Lucas has an unfair advantage since he knows the ship better than me," Sheila protested.

"Boat. Down the hall, take the first left," Hitchcock said.

"Thanks!" Sheila called, already on her way down the hall.

"I can't believe you helped her cheat," Ford commented as he and Hitchcock entered the mess hall.

"Really, Jonathan, it's just a game," Hitchcock laughed. "And they're just kids."


	2. Again and Again

Chapter Two: Again and Again

Disclaimer: Since my mother's been asking what I want for Christmas, do you think she'd laugh if I asked for seaQuest?

AN: Thanks to Refur, KatKnits00, Kiddo, sakurastar for the reviews. I think some of your questions/comments have been answered in this chapter or will be in coming chapters. Kiddo, for some reason, I couldn't get the Ensign Rossini part back in. It didn't seem to fit right. But it might make an appearance in a future chapter. :o)

_Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.  
_-Trey Parker and Matt Stone-

* * *

The game of hide-and-seek came to an abrupt halt after Sheila had decided to hide under Dr. Westphalen's desk in the science lab. Dr. Westphalen had come back from lunch and when she sat down and kicked Sheila, she had jumped up and screamed, scaring half her science team. After receiving a very long lecture, Sheila and Lucas parted ways so she could finish studying and he could work on updating some of the security systems in seaQuest's mainframe.

Lucas was engrossed in his programming when O'Neil's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Lucas, you have a call coming in. Want me to patch through to your room?"

"Yes, thanks, Tim," Lucas said, turning to face his vidscreen. The pretty face of his mother appeared. Lucas knew what was coming. He had expected this all week.

"Hi, sweetheart, how are you?" his mother asked.

"I'm fine, Mom. How are you?" he responded.

"Oh, I'm great. Really busy." She paused. "Actually, that's why I wanted to talk to you. Next weekend's no good for me. I'm really sorry to have to cancel you so soon, but I actually have a conference that I just have to attend and I'd take you with me, but you know how those go. We wouldn't be able to spend anytime together and you'd just be bored..."

As his mother prattled on, Lucas tuned her out. She was always doing this. Always making big plans to get together, always saying that this time it would actually happen, and then always canceling last minute. He never really understood why he kept getting his hopes up that her promises were true.

"You're not mad at me, are you, sweetheart?"

"No, Mom, I'm not mad," Lucas said truthfully. He wasn't mad. Hurt, maybe, but not mad. He'd given up getting angry at his parents a long time ago.

"I promise I'll make it up to you. Oh, I have to run. I'll talk to you next week, sweetheart."

"Bye, Mom." Lucas watched the screen go blank, and then turned back to his computer. Suddenly he didn't really care about the security systems. He got up and left his room. Maybe Darwin could cheer him up.

* * *

"I think they've actually gotten harder since we came here," Sheila argued. She and Captain Bridger were walking down the hall catching up on their day. Right now, they were discussing the classes Sheila was taking via the Internex.

"Aren't they the exact same ones you were taking when we were on the island?" Bridger asked. When Sheila nodded, he smiled. "I don't think the problem is that the classes have gotten harder. I think you're more distracted here."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Sheila apologized quickly "It's just that there's always something to do here. And there's Darwin, and Lucas, and – "

"Take it easy, Sheila," Bridger laughed. "I'm not mad. You're doing fine. And it's good to see you having fun and trying new things."

"You're not mad?" Sheila looked surprised. "Because I could study more. I really could. I don't – "

"Honey, honey, it's okay," Bridger interrupted her again. "As I said, it's good to see you having fun. All you did on the island was study, it seemed." He paused. "Although you might want to can the hide-and-seek. Especially if you're going to hide under Dr. Westphalen's desk." He smiled inwardly, remember the very angry Dr. Westphalen that had shown up at his door.

"Yeah, I guess," Sheila said. "It was the only place I could think of that Lucas wouldn't think to look for me."

"Yes, well, try to find something else to do that involves less roaming around the ship and less hiding," Bridger advised. He hated to spoil their mostly harmless fun, but he did have a submarine to run. He remembered Sheila saying something a week or so ago about "loosening that boy up with some good old-fashioned fun" and assumed hide-and-seek was part of that plan. Of course, he was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that Sheila called anything old-fashioned. Who knew what she thought of him if she called games she played just ten years ago old-fashioned.

They rounded a corner, and saw Lucas headed in their direction. "Hey, Lucas," Sheila greeted her friend.

Lucas looked up and mumbled a barely intelligible "Hey" back.

"Is something wrong?" Bridger asked, a look of concern on his face.

"No," Lucas sighed. "I just need to be somewhere." With that, he continued past them.

Sheila and Bridger watched him go, the same concerned look mirrored on their faces.

* * *

Lucas bitterly dropped the vocorder. Apparently Darwin didn't want to spend time with him anymore either. He stared out over the moonpool, leaning against the side of the tank. He heard footsteps behind him, and then someone was leaning against the tank next to him.

"You okay?" Sheila asked quietly. She had told her father she would see him later and followed Lucas down to the moonpool.

"I said I was fine before, didn't I?" Lucas snapped. He didn't need her hanging around and being all friendly and happy right now. He wasn't in the mood to deal with that right now.

"Okay, okay," Sheila replied, raising her hands defensively. "You just didn't seem fine, and I wanted to know if there was anything I could do."

"Well, there isn't," Lucas said, turning away from her and picking up the vocorder again.

"Dad just let him out to hunt," Sheila said. "He won't be back for a little while."

"Yeah, that figures," Lucas said. "Just when I needed him, he left."

Sheila narrowed her eyes slightly, more concerned than ever. Something had obviously happened, something pretty serious. She wasn't quite sure how to proceed, though. She usually didn't have to work at getting people to confide in her. Lucas had been a little withdrawn her first week aboard the seaQuest, but he had seemed to quickly warm up to her after that. Now he was withdrawing again, and she didn't want that.

"Well, I'm here," Sheila offered quietly, sitting on the bench next to the moonpool.

Lucas stared at her for a moment. Sure she was fun to hang out with, but honestly, they barely knew each other. On the other hand, it might be nice to tell someone besides Krieg for a change, and Sheila did seem genuinely concerned for him.

"I was just supposed to go see my mother next weekend. And she canceled. Again," Lucas told Sheila, avoiding her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Sheila said sympathetically. She wondered if that seemed too standard a reply. Too casual? Too unfeeling?

"It's not like it's the first time," Lucas continued, as if she hadn't even spoken. It seemed like he was talking to himself and wasn't even aware she was there. "She does this all the time. I suppose I should be glad that she even attempts to make an effort to see me. My father doesn't. It's just that...I don't know, it hurts, even though I know it always happens."

"It's not easy to be disappointed by your family," Sheila agreed. Lucas turned to face her.

"Oh, come on, since when has it happened to you?" Lucas asked. "You have a great relationship with your father."

"Yeah, now," Sheila agreed. "But that's just since Bobby and Mom died. Before that, he was always gone, always working on his next great project, always doing research, always out in the field. He wasn't around as much as you might think."

"Oh," was all Lucas said.

"I think," Sheila said carefully, "that you just have to decide at what point you're going to stop letting the disappointment control your life. I mean, that's just what I think. It's not the voice of experience, really, 'cause Mom was still around when Dad was gone, and Bobby."

"Yeah, I guess, but they're my family," Lucas said.

"They aren't your only family. As far as I can tell, there isn't a person on this boat who doesn't care about you." When Lucas nodded, Sheila jumped up. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Lucas asked.

"You can show me that new game you were going on about all day yesterday," Sheila proposed.

"You said you weren't interested," Lucas said, confused.

"Well, I am now," she replied. "Let's go."

"All right," Lucas agreed. "See, the object is to..." As Lucas went on, the two teenagers left the moonpool.


	3. Revelations

Chapter Three: Revelations

AN: Um, I kinda forgot about this. And then surprisingly enough there was a new review in my inbox. And I said, "Oh yeah!" And then I stared at my screen for 20 minutes trying to remember what I was doing with this story. And then I wrote this chapter. :op

_Trust thyself only, and another shall not betray thee. –Thomas Fuller_

* * *

Bridger paused at Sheila's door. Something had been not right with his daughter for the past couple of days. She tried to hide it, but she just wasn't as bubbly as she usually was. She acted fine around other people, but every time he caught her alone, her eyes had this distant, troubled look to them. Okay, so maybe he was overreacting just a bit; it wasn't that bad. But she was his daughter, and something was bothering her. He was determined to find out exactly what it was.

Bridger knocked on his daughter's door. "Just a sec!" he heard. Then a thump. Then an "Ow!" Then another thump. And another "Ow!" Then the door opened and Sheila stood in front of him rubbing her shin. "Oh, hey, Dad. Come on in. I was just catching up on some history stuff." She stood back to let him pass.

"What is that?" Bridger asked. On the floor in the middle of the room was a metal…contraption. That was the only word that came to mind. It had several arms, a computer screen, and some kind of input console. It also took up half the floor.

Sheila shrugged. "I dunno. Something Lucas was working on. He asked if he could work on it in here 'cause he didn't have any space in that black hole of a room he lives in. So I said okay, not realizing it was the same size as me." She rubbed her shin again and glared at it.

"What's he calling this one?" Bridger inquired.

" 'Thingamabob'. My idea. He doesn't have a real name for it yet." She laughed. "I told him I had to call it something when I was cursing it for being in the way."

"Yes, well, that's understandable." Bridger navigated around the mechanism to sit on Sheila's bed. "So how are things going?"

"Pretty good, I guess," Sheila answered. "I've been busy. School. Lucas. You know, the usual." She looked at Bridger curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem a little, how do I put this? Distracted. Maybe upset? Is there anything wrong? I haven't seen you much this week. Are you avoiding me for some reason?" That came out a little whinier then he had intended.

"No, I'm fine. I've just been busy. I've been spending so much time trying to cheer Lucas up I've had to spend the rest of my time on schoolwork."

Aha, Bridger thought. He saw the 'Oh, crap, I shouldn't have said that' look in Sheila's eyes the moment she mentioned Lucas. "What's wrong with Lucas?"

"Any chance you'll forget I said that?" Sheila questioned hopefully.

"Not a chance."

Sheila sighed. "I really have to learn to not say everything that I am thinking." She paused, thinking. "I'm not sure I should tell you."

"This doesn't have anything to do with why he cancelled his shuttle for next weekend, does it?" Just a little more prodding… "Is he okay? Is whomever he was going to visit okay?"

"Oh, no, everyone's okay. No one's sick or anything like that," Sheila quickly reassured her father. Bridger could see her weakening. "Come on, honey, he thought. You don't want me to worry needlessly, do you?" Bingo.

"Okay, fine, but you can't say anything about it. Promise?"

Bridger nodded. "I promise."

"Okay, so, apparently Lucas was supposed to go see his mother, but she cancelled on him. I guess it's happened many times before. So he was upset and I decided to cheer him up." Sheila paused. "See, no big deal. Everyone's fine. I don't think Lucas is very upset anymore, I'm fine, everyone's fine."

"Mmmhmmm."

"Dad." There was no mistaking the warning in Sheila's voice.

"Yes?" Bridger replied innocently.

"I know you're planning something. Don't go and try to talk to Lucas about this. I don't think he'd be happy to know I told you."

Bridger stood up and headed for the door. "Honey, don't worry. I promise I won't." After closing the door, he continued to himself. "Talk to Lucas about it, that is."

* * *

Bridger pressed a button on the screen in front of him. The face of one of his communications officers appeared before him. "Put me through to Cynthia Wolenczak."

"Yes, sir," the ensign replied. The screen went blank for a moment and then Bridger was looking at a harried-looking secretary.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually, I would like to speak with Cynthia Wolenczak."

"Well, she is quite busy at the moment. Can I take a message and have her get back to you at her earliest convenience?" Something in the mechanical way she said it made Bridger believe that was the only thing she had said all day long.

"It is really quite important that I speak to her immediately. I'm Captain Nathan Bridger of the SeaQuest. It's about her son, Lucas." Hopefully, a little name-throwing and the mention of Lucas would get him somewhere.

The secretary stared at him for a moment. Then she sighed. "Please hold." The screen went blank again for a few moments.

Bridger tapped his fingers on his desk while he waited. He glanced around his quarters, noticing a couple of boxes he still hadn't had the time to unpack. He really needed to do some decorating or something, too. The gray everywhere was starting to get to him.

"Whatever my son has done, punish him accordingly. I don't have time to deal with this." The voice of Lucas's mother snapped Bridger out of his thoughts.

"Actually, he hasn't done anything," Bridger replied, immediately on the defensive. "It's what you've done."

"What are you- oh, you mean canceling his visit? Well, I'm sorry that my schedule has changed and I'm going to be locked up in meetings all weekend, but if you think Lucas won't mind sitting around doing nothing, then of course he can come. I thought he would rather stay on the SeaQuest, where he has things he can do. I was really thing of him." Cynthia looked off to the side. "No, no, use the other one. Yes, I'm sure."

When Bridger was sure he had her attention again, he continued. "I think what Lucas would rather is to see his mother."

"Yes, well, that just won't be possible right now." Cynthia paused. "Look, Captain, I am not a bad mother. I'm just a busy mother. I would love to see Lucas. I miss him, whether you believe me or not. I plan on rescheduling his visit as soon as things calm down around here. And they won't calm down unless you let me get back to work."

Bridger gritted his teeth. "Thank you for your time." He pushed a button and the screen went blank. What a mother, he thought.

* * *

"Lucas, your mother would like to speak with you." Lucas looked up to see the slightly frazzled face of an ensign looking at him. Uh-oh, what now?

"Yeah, okay," he replied. The angry face of his mother replaced the ensign.

"What is wrong with you? How could you do that to me? Do you know how embarrassing it was to have him imply I was a bad mother just because I'm a little busy at the moment?"

Lucas stared at his mother in confusion. "Mom, who and what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Captain Bridger calling me and telling me I was a bad parent because I couldn't see you next weekend. Did you really have to go crying to him, Lucas?"

"But I didn't, Mom. I swear. I don't know –" Lucas stopped as he suddenly realized how Captain Bridger had found out. "I'll take care of it."

"You had better. I have to go. Goodbye." The screen went blank.

"Yeah, bye." Well, that's what he got for trusting people he barely knew. He got up from his desk. He had to find out what she was thinking when she went to her father. And he had to tell her he would never trust her again.


	4. Conflict

Chapter Four: Conflict

AN: I don't own seaQuest. I forgot about this – again – for like a year, now, I think. But last week the SciFi channel had three whole days of seaQuest. Yes, three. And I thought, "Hey, what happened to that story….?" This is short. I'm trying to get my bearings again. :op

_The truth is not simply what you think it is; it is also the circumstances in which it is said, and to whom, why, and how it is said. –Vaclav Havel_

* * *

Sheila nearly fell off her bed at the angry knock on her door. And in the process, she almost impaled herself on Thingamabob. She had been trying to study for the history quiz she was supposed to take in the morning, but someone obviously had other ideas.

"Lucas!" she said in surprise after opening the door. She certainly hadn't expected the angry knock to come from him. She figured Westphalen had finally noticed that Sheila had knocked over and 'rearranged' the files on her desk when she had been hiding the other day. "What's up? You really need to get Thingamabob out of here. He almost killed me."

"How could you?" Lucas nearly spat the words at her. "How could you tell your father? You had to have known he would call her." Lucas started pacing around Sheila's room in agitation.

"Lucas, I didn't do it on purpose. He knew something was bothering me. I had to tell him. He was worried!" Sheila figured after talking to her father, he must have gone straight to Lucas' mother. She should have seen this coming. It was so like him.

"Yeah, well, you could have told him something else." Lucas stopped pacing, and glared at her.

"I'm sorry, Lucas. I am so sorry. I didn't tell him to hurt you or betray you or get you in trouble with your mother, or anything like that. I swear that wasn't my intention. I didn't even think that he would-" Sheila didn't get to finish her sentence before Lucas started in on her again.

"That's your problem! You didn't think! You assume that you or your father can fix every single little problem that happens to everyone. Well, you can't. And I won't be your little project. Stay away from me, and stay out of my life." Lucas turned and left her room, without so much as a second glance.

"Lucas!" Sheila followed him out into the hallway. "Lucas! Wait! Just listen!" She realized that he wasn't going to stop and he definitely wasn't going to listen. She didn't know what to do. She had screwed up, and now it was unclear if she and Lucas would ever be friends.

* * *

two days later

Krieg walked into the mess hall and looked around for a place to sit. Well, he could either sit on one side of the room with Lucas, O'Neil, and Ortiz, or he could sit on the other side with Sheila, Hitchcock, and Ford. He did not like having to pick sides. On the one hand, he knew why Lucas was angry. The poor kid didn't have many people he could trust and he obviously felt he had made a mistake in trusting Sheila. On the other hand, Krieg didn't think that Sheila had told her father about Lucas' mother with the intent of hurting him or betraying him. In fact, Krieg wasn't sure how much Sheila was even talking to her father, which led him to believe that she hadn't known her father would contact Lucas' mother.

Krieg sighed as both Hitchcock and Ortiz waved him over. He went to sit at an empty table in the middle of the room. He had to do something about this whole dilemna – and not just because he was the ship's morale officer. He hated eating lunch alone.


	5. Lost

AN: I don't own seaQuest. That's probably a good thing. ;o)

* * *

_It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word. We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard. –Sarah McLachlan_

* * *

"Sheila sad."

Sheila splashed water at Darwin. After yet another lunch with Commander Ford and Lt. Hitchcock – which was always oh-so-much-fun – she had headed down to the moon pool to see Darwin. She had been avoiding seeing him because she knew Lucas hung around Darwin a lot, and she wasn't sure how much she could handle being ignored. It was bad enough in the dining hall, the hallways, and everywhere else she just happened to see him, but to go somewhere she knew there was a high chance of seeing him…she just couldn't force herself to go through that. The only reason she was here today was because Lt. Kreig had told her that Darwin missed her.

"Sheila sad," Darwin insisted.

"Yeah, well, it hasn't exactly been the best week ever," Sheila informed the dolphin.

"Lucas sad."

Sheila sighed. "Lucas isn't sad, Dar, he's angry. At me. And maybe he should be. Maybe I shouldn't have told my father about Lucas' mother. But I felt…trapped. I didn't want to, but at the same time, I had to. I tell my father everything." She rubbed Darwin's nose. "I'm sorry you got caught in the middle. I didn't mean to ignore you." Sheila laughed ruefully. "I guess I do a lot of things I don't mean to."

"Sheila sorry." Sheila smiled at Darwin. Sometimes it surprised her how well the dolphin actually understood.

"Yeah, Darwin, I'm sorry. Mostly, I'm sorry I hurt Lucas. That was the worst part. The anger…I can handle that. But seeing the hurt and betrayal in his eyes…That was hard. I just wish there was a way to make him understand that I didn't mean to hurt him. That I wasn't trying to betray him. But he won't listen to me."

Darwin was silent.

"Okay, well, thanks for the advice." Sheila rolled her eyes. Just when she thought the dolphin understood her, he seemed to stop. "I've got to go anyways. I have a test to study for. I'll come play with you soon, Darwin. I promise." The dolphin simply splashed water at her and then swam away.

Sheila sighed and then left the moon pool. Unfortunately, history tests didn't wait for friendships in crisis to be resolved.

* * *

Lucas stepped out from behind the containers he had been hiding behind. He had been talking to Darwin because Ben had said the dolphin missed him. Then he heard Sheila talking to someone just outside the moon pool. He didn't want to see her, so he ran to the nearest hiding place he could, hoping Darwin wouldn't tell Sheila he was there.

Now he didn't know what to think. He had been so sure Sheila had gone running to her father the minute he had told her about his mother, but if what she had said to Darwin was true, that wasn't the case.

Why did life have to get so complicated? He had been perfectly fine on the seaQuest before Sheila came along. Sure, it got a little boring. But it had been stable, predictable. Then Sheila came along and made him want to be friends with her, and things started to get crazy. He wished she had never come aboard seaQuest.

Then again, that wasn't true. The past few days had been long and boring. He actually missed hanging out with Sheila, playing games – either computer games or stupid little kids' games, like hide-and-seek. If someone had told him that he would be sixteen and having fun playing hide-and-seek, he would have laughed in their face. But Sheila made everything fun, and now that he was avoiding her, everything seemed a little bit duller.

But what was he supposed to do now?


End file.
